Sheet-controlling mechanism



A. P. GUSTAFSON.

SHEET CONTROLLING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION man MAYZG, 1911.

Patented Mar. 22, 1921.

2 SHEETSSHEET l.

'7 iascrZ A. P. GUSTAFSON.

SHEET CONTROLLING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 26. I917.

Patented Mar. 22, 1921.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

[ZOj a/LZ? (yeah/Iron 5L UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ADOLPI-I P. GUSTAFSON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO M. SCHULZ COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SHEET-CONTROLLING MECHANISM.

To all whom it may concern son, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Sheet-Controlling Mechanism, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being bad to the accompanying drawin s, forming a part of this specification.

lIy invention relates to player pianos and especially to devices for automatically adjusting the traveling music sheet so as to maintain it in proper relationship to the tracker boa-rd apertures or for other purposes.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a practical and effective mechanism for thus automatically adjusting the traveling music sheet.

Another object of the invention is to secure efficiency and effectiveness of opera tion in music sheets of different widths or in portions of the same sheet having different widths; it being well known that the shrinkage or.expansion of the material of which the music sheets are made often causes a slight variation in the width of music sheets of the same manufacture or even a slight variation in different portions of the same sheet.

Another object of the invention is to prevent the music sheet adjusting mechanism from interfering with the music sheet when the same is being rerolled.

Other objects of the invention will ap pear hereinafter.

The invention herein relates to the invene tions set forth in my pending application, Serial No. 768,491, filed May 19, 1913, for sheet controlling mechanism, and in my Patent No. 1,179,827, issued April 18, 1916, for sheet controlling mechanism.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of an automatic tracking or music sheet adjusting mechanism embodying my present invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on line 2-2 in Fig. 1;

Figs. .3, 41 and 5 are views of detailsof construction;

Figs. 6 and 7 are views'taken on line 66 in Fig. 1, with wide and narrow music sheets;

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 22, 1921.

Application filed May 26, 1917. Serial No. 171,108.

Fig. 8 is a view of an end portion of the device.

Referring to the drawings I show the usual music spool 1 and take-up roll 2, mounted in a frame or music box 3, the music sheet a passing over the? usual tracker 5.

A music sheet engaging device consisting in the form of mechanism shown of a yoke 6 is arranged above the tracker 5 and in the rear of the music sheet at, this yoke consisting of the horizontal portion 6 and the upwardly extending ends 6 and 6. The yoke bar 6 is provided with two sheet engaging members or clips '7 and 8 adapted to engage the opposite side edges of the music sheet a. These clips 7 and 8 are inclined to the side edges of the music sheet. Said clips 7 and 8 are also inclined from front to rear,

transversely of the music sheet, spreading out or diverging toward their front edges, as shown in Fig. 5. In this way sheets of different widths may be engaged by the clips 7 and 8, the wider sheets being engaged by the forward portions of said clips and the narrow sheets by the rear portions of the same.

The yoke 6 is supported so that it may have a swinging movement from front to rear to permit it to accommodate itself in this way to sheets of different widths or even a sheet having a varying width. As one arrangement said yoke is mounted by loose pivotal connections at the upper ends of the arms 6 and 6, pivots 9 and 10 respectively being shown for that purpose. The connection with these pivots is so loose that the yoke .6 may be swung bodily from front to rear, that is so that the horizontal portion 6 may move toward and away from the music sheet inthe rear of the same, such front and rear adjustments being shown by dotted lines in Fig. 3.

The pivot. 10 supporting the end or arm 6 is carried by an arm 12 mounted in a bracket 13. Said arm 12 has a laterally extending end portion let which fits in the bracket 13 with sufiicient looseness to permit the arm 12 to swing with said extension 1-1 as an axis. Another bracket 15 is mounted on the frame piece in the rear of the bracket 13 and the extension 141 extends to and is pivotally mounted in said bracket 15, (Fig. 8).

mounted on a valve seat 17 The latter is] provided with three ports 18, 19 and .20 (Fig. 1) which are controlled by the valve 16. The central port 19 is understood to be connected with a suitable source of reduced air pressure and the side ports 18 and 20 are connected with operating Pneumatics 21 and 22, so that movement of the valve. 16 will effect an operation of the pneumatics 21 and 22 in accordance with the principles of operation set forth for example in my aforesaid Patent No. 1,179,827. In such operation the pneumatics 21 and 22 being tied or connected together by a rod 23 will cause the shifting of a slide rod 2a which is connected by a link 25 with the pneumatic 22. This slide rod 241 has its bent ends 26 and 27 in engagement with the ends of the music roll spindles 28 and 29, ,so that a sliding movement on the part of the rod 24 in one direction or another longitudinally of said rod 2% will cause a longitudinal movement of the music roll 1 in one direction or the other, and thereby effect a corresponding movement of the music sheet a in a direction transverse to its line of travel. Thus it will be seen that the clips 7 and 8 by engaging the music sheet will be held in a normal or central position while the music sheet is tracking properly with the tracker board. apertures. But when the music sheet shifts to one side or the other the clips 7 and 8 will be correspondingly moved, causing a movement on the part of the rod or bar 6 and this movement will bring about a shift- 7 ing movement of the valve 16 which by its control of the ports 18, 19 and 20 will cause an actuation of the pneumatics 21 and 22 in such a manner as to cause the slide rod 2 1 to move the music roll 1. This latter movement will be in such a direction as to automatically restore the music sheet back to proper trackage with the tracker board apertures.

By hanging the yoke 6 loosely upon the pivots 9 and 10, it is free to swing vertically as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 3, and will fall forward of its own weight sutiiciently to cause the clips 7 and 8 to engage with the edges of the music sheet, bethat sheet narrow, wide or intermediate; and this engagement will be continuous even though there be variationsin the width of the sheet, be-

cause if the sheet becomes wider the yoke 6 will be pushed slightly backward, whereas if the sheet becomes narrower said yoke will swing forwardly to an extent suflicient to cause the clips 7 and 8 to maintain their engagement with the sheet edges. This adjustability of the sheet engaging device so as to compensate for varying Widths of music sheets or variations in the width of the same sheet, does not in the least interfere with the effective operation of the sheet '32 mounted on the side of the frame 3 and having its loose leaf 33 provided with a finger 34 which isadapted to engage the left hand end of the rod 6, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. This pneumatic 32 is provided with a spring 35 tending to hold it normally in an expanded condition so that when in such condition it will act positively upon the yoke 6 and swingthe same rearwardly, away from the travel sheet, so that thevclips 7 and 8 will not engage with said sheet.

This will be the condition of the pneumatic,

during rerolling and also at other times when there is no pneumatic pressure upon the action for playing purposes. When, however, pneumatic pressure is appliedthe pneumatic 32 will be collapsed and the finger 34 will be moved forwardly to a sufiicient extent to free the yoke 6 and permit the same to swing forwardly and effect its compensating engagement with the music sheet. A tube 37 is connected with the pneumatic 32 and also with a suitable pressure reducing apparatus. Another tube 38 extends from the pneumatic 32 to the valve seat 17, communicating with the central port 19 thereof.

It will be understood that changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. In a sheet controlling mechanism, a sheet engaging device having side members inclined to the sheet and mountcdto permit it to swing in a direction toward and, away from the sheet.

. 2. In, a sheet controlling mechanism, a

sheet engaging device having inclined members on opposite sides of-the music sheet and loosely mounted so asto swing toward and away from the music sheet.

3. In a sheet controlling mechanism, a sheet engaging device having inclined members on opposite sides of the music sheet and loosely mounted so as to swing toward and away from the music sheet, in combination with pneumatic mechanism actuated by said sheet engaging device and. adapted to shift the music transversely to its direction of movement. I

4:. n a h et contr l g hanism, a

sheet engaging device having inclined members on opposite sides of the music sheet and loosely mounted so as to swing toward and away from the music sheet, in combination with pneumatic mechanism actuated by said sheet engaging device and adapted to shift the music transversely to its direction of movement, said pneumatic mechanism having a pivotally mounted valve and said sheet engaging member being connected to said valve so as to actuate the same by the sidewisc deviations of the music sheet.

5. The combination of a sheet engaging member comprising a rod arranged crossvise of the music sheet and provided with inclined clips adapted to engage the side edges of the music sheet, said rod having upwardly extending ends loosely mounted so as to permit the rod to swing in a direction toward and away from the music sheet, a pivotally mounted valve located at one side of the music sheet and arranged for movement toward and away from the music sheet, said rod having one of its upper ends loosely mounted upon said valve so as to permit the aforesaid s *inging movement of the rod without moving the valve said valve being movable sidewisc by lateral deviations of the music sheet, pneumatic mechanism having a valve seat cooperating with said valve, said mechanism being adapted to shift the sheet transversely of its direction of movement.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 9th day of April, A. D. 1917.

ADOLPH P. GUSTAFSON.

Witnesses.

A. L. JoNEs, IIAZEL A. Jones. 

